“I LOVE YOU. I’ll always love you,” Preston coos into my ear.

I lean back into his arms with a sigh. This is right.

“Honey, did you need to stop?” Linh asked.

Trihn shook herself from her daydream in frustration and stared at her mom sitting in the passenger seat of their Mercedes SUV while her dad drove.

A week had passed since she confessed her love to Preston. He hadn’t responded, but she was sure he felt the same. She didn’t want to rush him even though she couldn’t help but think about it and what it would be like when he said those three beautiful words. Unfortunately, for the next week, she would be on her stupid family vacation without him.

“No, Mom, I don’t need a break. We’re almost to the Hamptons anyway,” she said, slumping back in her seat.

Her mom gave her a motherly look that said she wasn’t going to take this attitude from her youngest daughter throughout the entire vacation. Trihn just slid her Bose headphones out from her oversize Kate Spade bag and drowned out all the other noise in the car. She wouldn’t mind going back to that daydream.

She checked her phone for the umpteenth time and sighed at the lack of response. She knew Preston was working and not normally all that talkative during the day anyway, but still…she missed him. She hadn’t even gotten to say good-bye because he was so busy.

As she and her parents drove into the Hamptons, Trihn’s eyes slid over the stunning mansions. Each was bigger and more outdone than the next. For someone who had grown up and lived her entire life in a townhouse surrounded by millions of other people, the giant houses and wide open spaces in the Hamptons were a thankful reprieve from the city. But by the end of the week, she was always ready to get back to her home.

Her father turned down the street where the house they rented for a week every year sat as untouched and as beautiful as ever. She slipped her headphones off her ears and leaned forward in the seat.

“Glad to be back?” her father, Gabriel, asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. A lot of good memories here.”

He pulled into the driveway and parked in one of the three empty garages. Trihn popped open her door and hopped out, inhaling the balmy sea air.

“Where’s Ly?” Trihn asked. “I thought she came up yesterday.”

Linh waved her hand. “Oh, I asked her to pick up some things that I forgot for the welcome party tomorrow night.”

“You got her to go to the store for you?” Trihn asked with wide eyes.

“Lydia was happy to help.”

Trihn rolled her eyes. That didn’t sound like her sister. “Okay,” she said disbelievingly.

She grabbed her bag off the floor of the SUV and trudged toward the house. She was halfway up the stairs when her mother called her back into the kitchen.

Trihn sighed and then ditched her bag at the foot of the stairs. “What?”

Linh held up a piece of paper and waved it at her. “Seems Mr. Peterson has already been over, looking for you,” she said with a knowing smile.

“It’s just Ian, Mother, no Mr. Peterson and definitely none of those looks.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure,” Trihn said with a shake of her head. In the next minute though, she was out of the house and jogging across the immaculate lawn to the house next door.

She knocked and waited for two seconds for someone to answer the door. When no one did, she let herself inside. “Ian!” she called.

Feet pounded the floor upstairs and then came down the giant winding staircase at the front of the house. Ian appeared a second later with a huge grin on his face. “Trihn! You guys made it!”

He jumped the last three steps and pulled her into a giant hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him a little bit tighter. It had been forever since she saw him. Normally, their parents would vacation in Aspen during the winter or some kind of Caribbean vacation destination during the spring, but Trihn had been occupied with modeling during the Aspen trip and his parents had been too busy for an island vacation last spring.

“It’s so good to see you,” she told him honestly before pulling back.

Ian was like a brother to her. They had known each other practically their whole lives. Having someone always around who was her age had probably been one of the reasons she hadn’t cared about bringing a friend along on vacation with her. She always had one. The thought made her feel equal parts sad that Preston couldn’t be here and happy that at least she wouldn’t be bored.

“It’s great to see you, too. Tell me everything I’ve missed.”

He ushered her through the foyer, past the enormous kitchen, and out the back door to a massive deck that looked out across the Olympic-size pool and to the ocean beyond. Papers were laid out on a table, and Ian’s MacBook Pro along with an assortment of odds and ends held them down from blowing away in the breeze.

“What are you working on, genius?” she joked, peering down at the screen.

He laughed. “Things your tiny brain could never comprehend.”

“Just because my brain doesn’t think in zeros and ones does not make it tiny!” she said, swatting at his arm.

“My brain doesn’t think in terms of fashion though.”

“Clearly.”

“Hey, hey!”

“You’ve been wearing the same outfits since you were knee-high. I mean, did you walk out of Martha’s Vineyard or something?”

Ian’s ears turned bright pink at her comment, and she couldn’t help but laugh. As soon as he sat down, she fell into the seat next to his and kicked her feet up onto his lap. Teasing Ian was practically an art form as far as she was concerned.

“I’m just surprised you’re not wearing anything studded today,” he observed.

“Are you sure?” she asked with a wink.

Now, his entire face was beet-red.

She cackled at his reaction. “I’m just kidding!”

“I know.”

She shook her head. After all this time, he still got so embarrassed around her.

“Are you excited for Columbia?”

“Very. In two weeks, I’ll be in the city for good.”

Ian’s parents had relegated themselves to a suburb when he entered middle school. As much as they’d wanted to send him to a private school in the city, they’d also wanted him to have a real childhood, whatever that meant.

To them, it meant, not in the city.

To Trihn, that sounded ridiculous.

Trihn and Ian eased into a conversation like no time had passed at all, and after an hour, she had let her worries from the city slide away. Preston would be there when she got back, and until then, she needed to enjoy her last summer before college started.

“Hello, Trihn, dear,” Ian’s mother, Betty, said, stepping out onto the deck. She wore a sleek white dress and heels. Her hair was a perfect slicked-back bun, and her makeup was flawless.

“Hello, Mrs. Peterson,” Trihn said with a smile.

“Your mother called and asked for you to return home.”

Trihn nodded and stood. “I’ll check you later, Ian. Want to come over for dinner? Mom actually got Lydia to go to the store, so who knows what it will be? But you know my mom is a fantastic cook.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye, Mrs. Peterson!” she called before traipsing back through the house and out the door.

Trihn jogged across the lawn with a giant smile on her face. Her hair blew out behind her in the breeze, and she took a deep breath. This felt good and right.

When Trihn rounded the corner, she saw Lydia’s car parked in the garage. That must be why her mom had wanted Trihn to come home—time to meet the new boyfriend, the new flavor of the week. Trihn really wasn’t looking forward to pretending for a person who wouldn’t be around long past this vacation, but she would put on a good face for her sister.